The Elysium Fields

Sunday, March 29, 2015

I've been super busy with sewing, and to be honest, I've had finished a ton of projects lately to do write-ups on, but today I'm going to focus on the teal Elizabethan gown that I just recently finished for my twin. I've wanted to get her in this style for a while, but since her back surgery she hasn't been too keen on tight lacing dresses - so we modified this one a bit so that it didn't hit the sensitive area on her spine.

I had got in a bunch of samples from Silk Baron when I was shopping around for fabric for a different costume, and their Anemone called out to both of us. My twin saw it and immediately went "I want a peacock themed dress!" And right away I was game. We decided that the boned kirtle would be this teal colour, and that, for the time being, we would go with gold-trimmed black sleeves. Even though dupioni silk isn't HA, we went for it anyway, because she doesn't care about accuracy so much and the colour looks fabulous on her!

The pattern for the smock, skirt, bodice, sleeves, and caul are all from Margo Anderson's Elizabethan pattern line. The only real modifications that we had to make was to bring the bodice up in the back a little bit so it wouldn't hit my twin's scar tissue.

The next step for this gown will be the fitted over gown, in a beautiful shade of blue, with antique gold buttons.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

This is the over bust corset that I made for my little sister to wear under her Sakura gown (previous post). I used the Truly Victorian corset pattern to make this, and it is a pattern that I both adore and recommend to other people thinking of trying their hand at corset making. Its amazingly simple to put together, has a very wide range of sizes, and fits wonderfully.

This was made with two layers of white twill, and 12 "1/2 inch" bones, and a metal busk. There are 20 grommets in the back for lacing. The edges were finished in bias tape that was hand stitched down to the lining. This corset is fully supportive. My sister used this in place of any other sort of under garment for her off-the-shoulder ballgown, but it could be worn as a stand a lone top as well.

This was the first time I'd ever used a busk in a corset before, and it was a real learning curve. I love the look it gives the corset though, and really, once I got the hang of it, the whole thing went in surprisingly easy. This, I can tell, is just going to be the first of many corsets that I make.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

My baby sister (called such because she's the youngest of 8) and I collaborated on this costume, which we competed at the Colossalcon masq. We didn't win anything, but we had a heck of a time (all of it fun) and the compliments we received were numerous. In our minds, that was even better than a slip of paper, because we couldn't go 4 feet without someone shouting out for a picture, or stopping us to compliment the gown. It was awesome.

My little sister did all of the jewelry work and prop work. She is amazingly talented in the art and sculpting department. She's also a talented sewer, though she would disagree with me on that, but hey XD. I tackled the dress part of this. All in all, the whole thing probably took about two and a half weeks to make.

The bodice was drafted by first making a corset (she actually has a fully boned and busked corset under there - that will be a different post) so that I would be able to see how it would accurately lie, and cinching that on the dress-form set at Kat's measurements. I first drafted it in muslin (twice) and tweaked it until I was happy, and then made it out of the bridal satin. The skirt was simply the left over fabric, hemmed, surged, and then gathered and stitched onto the bodice (I lost 3 needles to that beast).

The cloak is a separate piece entirely, also drafted by myself. The design was free-handed by Kat (the model / my sis) and then painted by me with the help of my friend Nobi. Kat and I styled the wig together and she took on the amazing task of making the jewelry and staff, all of which looks amazing.

There is also a hand made hoop skirt and two petticoats (also made by me) under there, but I'll save the undergarments for their own posts. :)

We had a lot of fun walking around as Sakura and Syaoran, and we're looking forward to bringing this out again at future conventions.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Mother Gothel, from "Tangled". I did this costume to run around with a friend in her totally adorable Rapunzel costume. Its not often that I dress as a villain, so it was fun to run around the convention, and even more fun when people recognized who I was.

The dress is a really simple princess seamed dress, with modified sleeves. It was made with polyester shauntung (which I may have mispelled, oops) and trimmed with black velvet ribbon. The only part of this that's lined were the sleeves, because they were noticeably trimmed in the movie. The belt is just my circle belt from my SCA wardrobe. The wig was lent to me by my friend who dressed as Rapunzel.

This was just a quick and dirty job, meant more for fun that superb craftsmanship, and on that end, it was great. There are a lot of things that I would re-do, if I was going for craftsmanship, but since I'm not, it gets to stay as is. <3

I retired this after the one wear, just because that wig likes to eat my face, and because the dress is incredibly warm... also because I shrank out of it. Go figure.

Friday, November 18, 2011

This gown is based on a few different gowns worn by Elenora di Toledo. I originally made it for our group's

"12th Night" event last winter, but have since then worn and continued to add on to it. This gown is still currently making the convention and event circuit. I have to give huge amounts of thanks to my friend Jess, because without her this never would have been finished on time (she especially helped out on the sleeves, but also with fitting the bodice, especially for my shoulders).

The dress is made of a red on red brocade, and the bodice is double lined with twill and duck canvas. The bodice has a solid steel stay in the center front, a couple of pieces of spiral steel at the side-back seams, and one piece of solid steel in the back. For the rest of the boning in the bodice (for which there is a lot) I used 3/8 inch wide cable ties. I would never have thought that method would work for me (I'm kind of chesty) but it does work.

The trim is wide black velvet ribbon, sewn double, topped with an antique gold lace-like trim, that was also sewn double to make it extra wide. That is then studded with white pearls, on both the bodice and the skirt. The sleeves are matching fabric and trim, with white puffing that is trimmed out with black glass beads. The partlet is a semi-sheer chiffon that is embroidered with small vines and flowers. The neck ruff is something like

12 yards of white rose-shaped lace that is cartridge pleated to a muslin base that ties in the back with ribbon. Covering my hair is a snood, which is not really appropriate for this period (or rather, the type of snood I'm wearing is not), but my hair is short and hard to work with, so I used it anyway. I am also wearing a period appropriate shift under the dress, but that can't be seen (hehe).

Thursday, October 27, 2011

This is a more recent work, from this past June. The character is Ciel Phantomhive from the series "Kuroshitsuji". This particular version is from season 2, when Ciel and the crew were invited to a Halloween party and Ciel dresses as a pirate. I never finished the coat, but given that I wore this in June, I'm glad I didn't have the coat - it was warm.

I am wearing a chest binder to appear more male. Its surprisingly comfortable, a lot more so than the ace bandage binding that I did earlier cosplay years. The shirt is just simple while muslin, with the cuffs being a white cotton lace. The pants are a charcoal suiting with a zipper on the side. The red sash is peach skin, which is one of those fabrics that I always hope I'll never have to work with again, but always do. XD The wig is from Arda Wigs.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

I think I'll start off with some of my past creations that came out well before getting to all of my current things (because if I start with the current, we'll never see my past works).

This costume / character is Princess Sakura from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. The particular costume (she has many throughout the series) is referred to as "Outo World". In that particular set of chapters / episodes she was working as a waitress in a cafe.

I really loved how this costume came together, especially the collar. It was the first time I'd ever worked with peachskin (the apron and collar are both made of it), and it was also a first on doing scallops. It was almost my first time drafting a pattern from scratch (the collar). This costume won "2nd Place Journeyman" at Setsucon.